Sentence Ideas For Essays

And you have to find perfect hooks for an essay even when you don’t know what to write about.

When you are asked to write an essay, it doesn’t mean that you don’t get to express your own thoughts and creativity. An essay shouldn’t be boring or too formal. As a writer, your first priority is to make sure that you are keeping your audience in mind and writing for them and to them. That means grabbing and keeping their attention so that they want to read every word.

This is exactly why the essay hook exists and is such an important tool.

The use of hooks in writing goes far beyond just essays and college papers. Every writer, copywriter, screenwriter, and storyteller uses this device to draw in readers and keep them hooked. For example, world-famous ad executive, David Ogilvy, relied on a list of 29 “magic words” that he used in titles in order to hook a client’s attention.

College essay hooks can be difficult to generate, especially when you are still working on clarifying what your essay is going to say. So, the very first step in writing a strong essay hook is to do some planning.

A literary quote

This type of hook is appropriate when you are writing about a particular author, story, literary phenomenon, book, etc. Using a quote will make your essay sound fresh and establish your authority as an author.

Examples:

“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” These words of Nick Carraway perfectly describe…”

“Not all those who wander are lost.” And yes, indeed, every person is so…”

“When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.” Agree or not, but these words from The Alchemist determine…”

Quotes from Famous People

Including a quote from an authoritative and influential person can help support your argument and create an intriguing hook. The key is to make sure that you clearly show how the quote is relevant to your essay.

Examples:

“John Wooden once said, ‘Never mistake activity for achievement.'”

“Learn to laugh” were the first words from my kindergarten teacher after Ralph Thorsen spilled paint on my daffodil picture.

Anecdote

Don’t be afraid to employ this type of hook. Remember, even if you start with a humorous anecdote, it doesn’t mean that your entire essay has to be funny. A bit of humor can help you grab readers’ attention and spark their interest in the topic.

Examples:

“As my cousin and I pedaled our new bikes to the beach, 6 years old, suntanned and young, we met an old, shaggy-haired man weaving unsteadily on a battered old bike.”

“When I was a young boy, my father worked at a coal mine. For 27 years, he made it his occupation to scrape and claw and grunt his way into the bowels of the earth, searching for fuel. On April 19, 2004, the bowels of the earth clawed back.”

Keep in mind that most essay assignments will ask you to avoid using the first person. Be sure to check any requirements before using “I” in your writing.

Pose a Question

Almost nothing can attract interest better than a well-constructed question. Readers will want to continue reading your essay in order to discover the answer. Be sure to avoid simple “Yes” or “No” questions and try to pose questions that ask reader to consider the other side or engage in some critical thinking.

Examples:

“What would you do if you could play God for a day? That’s exactly what the leaders of the tiny island nation of Guam tried to answer.”

“Have you ever wondered, whether Anna Karenina still loved Alexei if she hadn’t decided to commit a suicide?”

Set a Scene

People respond well to visual cues. Taking the time to set a detailed scene will help your reader have a clear picture in their minds and create an effective hook. You can describe an incident or detail the particular features of a person or a character to help the readers become immersed in your writing.

Examples:

“The day of his birth began with Hurricane Charlie pounding at our door in Charleston, South Carolina.”

“Deciding to attend Hampton Roads Academy, a private school, was one of my most difficult decisions.”

Include an Interesting Fact or Definition

These types of hooks start by surprising the reader with something that may not have known. Provide an interesting fact about something you are going to discuss in your essay’s body and your audience will want to keep reading to learn more.

Examples:

“Spain, though hardly a literary juggernaut, translates more books in one year than the entire Arab world has in the past one thousand years.”

“Amiable is the best way to describe Elizabeth’s personality: she was friendly and caring.”

State Your Thesis

There is no harm in getting right to the point. Start with your main argument and use the rest of your essay to support your point of view. If you have an interesting take on a subject, readers will want to see where you came up with your idea.

Examples:

“It is time, at last, to speak the truth about Thanksgiving, and the truth is this. Thanksgiving is really not such a terrific holiday. . .”

“Humans need to invest more time and money into space exploration because Earth is on a certain path to destruction.”

Reveal a Common Misconception

The most interesting essays will teach the readers something new. If you start your introduction by showing that a commonly accepted truth is actually false, your readers will be instantly hooked.

Examples:

“Any parent will tell you that goldfish are a great first pet for a child. They hardly need any attention, and they won’t be around for too long. Flushing a goldfish in its first week is pretty common—it even happened to my first goldfish. But it turns out that goldfish aren’t as helpless as we all think.”

“While most coffee enthusiasts would tell you that their favorite drink comes from a bean, they would be wrong. Coffee is actually made from a seed that is simply called a bean.”

Statistics

By listing proven facts at the very beginning of your paper, you will create interest that can be carried throughout the rest of the essay.

Examples:

“The average iceberg weighs over 100,000 metric tons.”

“70% of all jobs found today were got through different networking strategies”

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Depending on the style of essay you are writing (narrative, persuasive, personal, critical, argumentative, deductive, etc.), the type of hook you will want to use will vary. Remember, your essay hook is just a tip of an iceberg and it will not guarantee that the rest of your essay will work. Be sure to organize your research and start with an outline before deciding on the best hook to start your essay. The right choice can make your paper truly interesting and worth reading.

Written by Lesley J. Vos, our blog writer and essay proofreader. Lesley is a big fan of reading, and she is always ready to help students come up with good ideas for their papers and reach their academic goals. You can always find her on Facebook and Google+.

It can sometimes be difficult to start a sentence to express ideas, or find words to show the relationship between ideas. Below is a list of possible sentence starters, transitional and other words that may be useful.

To introduce

This essay discusses …

… is explored …

… is defined …

The definition of … will be given

… is briefly outlined …

… is explored …

The issue focused on ….

… is demonstrated ...

… is included …

In this essay …..

… is explained …

… are identified …

The key aspect discussed …

… are presented …

… is justified …

Views on …. range from ….

… is evaluated …

… is examined …

The central theme …

… is described …

… is analysed …

Emphasised are …

… is explained and illustrated with examples …

To conclude

In summary, …

To review, …

In conclusion, …

In brief, …

To summarise, …

To sum up, …

To conclude, …

Thus, …

Hence, …

It has been shown that, …

In short, …

To compare and contrast

Similarly, …

In the same way …

Likewise, …

In comparison …

Complementary to this …

Then again, …

However, …

This is in contrast to …

In contrast, …

And yet …

Nevertheless, …

Conversely, …

On the contrary, …

On the other hand, …

Notwithstanding …

Whereas …

In contrast to …

That aside, ...

While this is the case …

... disputes …

Despite this, ...

To add ideas

Also, …

Equally important ...

Subsequently, …

Futhermore, …

Moreover, …

As well as ....

Next…

Another essential point…

Additionally, ...

More importantly, …

In the same way …

Another ...

Then, …

In addition, …

Besides, ...

Then again, …

Firstly, ... secondly, ... thirdly, ... finally, ...

To elaborate, ...

To present uncommon or rare ideas

Seldom ...

Few ...

Not many ...

A few ...

... is uncommon

... is scarce ...

Rarely ...

... is rare ...

... is unusual ...

To present common or widespread ideas

Numerous ...

Many ...

More than ...

Several ...

Almost all ...

The majority ...

Most ...

Commonly ...

Significant ...

... is prevalent ...

... is usual ...

Usually ...

To present inconclusive ideas

Perhaps ...

... may be ...

... might be ...

There is limited evidence for ...

... is debated ...

... is possibly ...

... could ...

... may include ...

To give examples

For example, ...

... as can be seen in ...

... supports ...

An illustration of ...

... as demonstrated by ...

... is observed ...

Specifically, ...

... is shown ...

... exemplifies ...

Such as ...

As an example ...

To illustrate, ...

For instance, ...

To show relationships or outcome

Therefore ...

As a result ...

For that reason ...

Hence, ...

Otherwise, ...

Consequently, ...

The evidence suggests/shows ...

It can be seen that ...

With regard to ...

After examining ....

These factors contribute to ...

It is apparent that ...

Considering ... it can be concluded that ...

Subsequently, ....

The effect is ...

The outcome is ...

The result ...

The correlation ...

The relationship ...

The link ...

The convergence ...

The connection ...

... interacts with ...

Both ....

... affects ...

Thus it is ...

... causes ...

... influences ...

... predicts ...

... leads to ...

... informs ...

... presupposes

... emphasises

... demonstrates ...

... impacts on ...

... supports ...

To present prior or background ideas

In the past, ...

Historically, ...

Traditionally, ...

Customarily, ...

Beforehand, ...

Originally, ...

Prior to this, ...

Earlier, ...

Formerly, ...

Previously, ...

Over time, ...

At the time of ...

Conventionally, ...

Foundational to this is ...

In earlier ...

Initially, ...

At first, ...

Recently ...

Until now, ...

The traditional interpretation ...

To present others' ideas

According to …

Based on the findings of ... it can be argued...

… proposed that …

As explained by …

… states that …

… claims that …

However, ... stated that …

... suggested …

… concluded that …

Similarly, … stated that ….

… for example, …

… agreed that …

Based on the ideas of …

… defined …. as ….

… relates …

As identified by …

… disputed that …

… contrasts …

With regard to … argued that …

… concluded that …

… confirmed that …

... argues ….

… highlights …

… demonstrates …

… found that …

… identifies …

... wrote that …

… demonstrated …

… also …

… reported ….

… pointed out that …

… maintained that …

… hypothesised that …

… expressed the opinion that …

... also mentioned ….

... asserts that ….

… identified …

… goes on to state/suggest/say

… emphasises

… challenges the idea ….

… showed that …

… explored the idea …

Adapted from the following source

Manalo. E., Wont_Toi, G., & Bartlett-Trafford, J. (2009). The business of writing: Written communication skills for business students (3rd ed.). Auckland: Pearson Education New Zealand.